President Obama's critics have the right to be upset by his decision to shield from deportation, at least temporarily, some groups of undocumented immigrants. But they don't have the right to twist the facts, use inflammatory language and create confusion.

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage ..." ? John F. Kennedy, inaugural address, 1961

Where are the lost boys of Mexico? That's what many people, in that country and around the world, want to know. The answer could say much about the new narrative that has been pushed about the country.

Now that President Barack Obama has broken his promise to take executive action on immigration, and put off the thorny issue until after the midterm elections -- and I predict, for the remainder of his presidency -- many immigration reform advocates are angry, surprised and disappointed.

Not so long ago, we defined relations between Mexico and the United States by how its president got along with our president. Yet, when the U.S. chief executive is distracted by events in Russia and the Middle East, what counts now is how Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto relates to the governors of U.S. states.

Tom Greer is an 80-year-old crime victim who had the absolute right to use deadly force to defend himself when a pair of burglars -- a man and a woman -- broke into his home in Long Beach, California, and began assaulting him. And yet, if there is any justice, the 80-year-old should spend the remainder of his golden years in prison.

As we try to grasp the enormity of the crisis involving at least 57,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border looking for safe haven, Americans should stop casting blame and be realistic.

President Obama needs to send U.S. marshals to Southern California. They can protect the Central American women and children whom the federal government has sent out West, with more due to arrive every 72 hours under an immigrant redistribution plan hatched by the Obama administration.

It's time to get beyond the question of who's to blame for the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border, where tens of thousands of children -- three-fourths of them from Honduras, Guatemala, or El Salvador -- are streaming into the United States and overwhelming our border enforcement apparatus.

The immigration debate in the United States should be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States. Take it from a fifth-generation American whose maternal ancestors have been in Texas since the Lone Star State was more commonly referred to as "Northern Mexico."

Normally, when an elected official has to make difficult choices, balancing ambition with practical concerns, it boils down to a personal decision. But when the official is a political rock star who might just be the first member of his community to become president, the whole decision-making process plays out in public.

As you have probably noticed, human beings will sometimes do dumb things. Like step onto someone else's property late at night or in the early morning hours, whether innocently or not so innocently. But that doesn't give other people license to overreact and use deadly force to kill an unarmed trespasser. The law of man says so but so does the code of common decency.

There are two groups of Republicans: Those who pander to nativists by encouraging anti-Latino prejudice and exploiting the fear and anxiety that come from changing demographics, and those who tolerate the first group.

The most important tool that law enforcement officers have at their disposal is common sense. This is especially true with that segment of the force that spends the most time interacting with the public: traffic cops and highway patrol officers who enforce the vehicle code.

Here's a scary thought: There's a country where officials are suggesting that the visas of gay partners of U.S. diplomats be revoked and these individuals be put in jail -- not because the country recently outlawed same-sex relationships but to crack down on Americans.